Pouring carton



March 7 1944. F. c. MORGENROTH 2,343,357

POURING CARTONS Filed July 30, 1941 2 Sheets-Shee't 1 INVENTOR.

March 7, 1944. F. c. MORGENROTH 2,343,857

POURING CARTONS Filed July 30, 1941 2 shS9tS-Sh9 6t 2 3 KT M INVENTOR.

4 BY orjgenroi'zt,

fife-r11. 2 31.

Patented Mar. 7, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,343,857 POURING CARTON Frank C. Morgenroth, Glendale, Calif. Application July 30, 1941, Serial No. 404,679

4 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in containers and more particularly to the pouring feature thereof, the general type thereof being applicable for holding various commodities such as cereals, washing powder, coffee, soap flakes and many others. The principal object of the invention is to provide a valved orifice, the parts thereof being integral with the material of the carton, by which a pouring opening may when desired be employed for dispensing the contents of the receptacle. A feature of the invention which is desirable is the provision of a valved opening which normally seals the container and which may readily be released or modified to permit full or part opening of the outlet passage. When broken open the valve remains in part attached to the carton so that it can from time to time be caused to function thus keeping the contents fresh and free from the elfects of outside air. The invention contemplates a carton of the customary folding blank type having a body provided with a plurality of flaps adapted to be folded one upon another and thus secured and sealed in overlapping extended arrangement to form the carton including its pouring end, certain of the flaps being formed by the usual method of scoring or creasing to provide hinge joints all of which will be fully hereinafter explained.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, Fig. l is a perspective view of the upper pouring end of my improved carton showing the pouring orifice and my improved valve in Wide open position; Fig. 2 is a plan of a portion of the upper end of my improved carton showing the valve held fully closed; Fig. 3 is an elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view similar to Fig. l but showing the parts of the fiaps and valve in partly unfolded condition, illustrating the process of setting up the carton during its use; Fig. 5 is a plan of the blank from which the carton of the invention is formed; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary end plan partly broken away and in section showing an alternative construction of my invention, and Fig. '7 is a fragmentary plan on a reduced scale illustrating another alternative construction.

The shape of the carton involved in this invention resembles a rectangular structure defining a parallelepiped, one end portion of which.

is the pouring end. Referring to Fig. 5, it will be seen that the blank from which the carton of the invention is formed comprises a piece of ordinary boxboard, pasteboard, cardboard or other suitable material cut, scored or folded to provide broad sides A and B, and narrow sides C and D. By reference to Fig. 5, the narrow side D also has provided a securing strip it which is attached to the broad side A by adhesive or other suitable attaching means. The broad side A is provided with flaps II and I2 and the broad side B is provided with flaps l3 and It, all of which flaps when folded into overlapping engagement and secured by suitable adhesive or other suitable fastening means, assist in providing closed and sealed ends for the carton. The narrow sides C and D are provided respectively with end flaps l5 and It and l! and i8, which in the formation of the carton are first folded inwardly and the end flaps l I and I2 and I3 and It then folded over and secured thereto by suitable adhesive or other suitable fastening means, with the exception hereinfter described. Also in the formation of the carton the securing strip Ill is folded into the carton and secured by suitable fastening means such as an adhesive to the inner face along the outer side edge of the broad side A. U

The end flaps l4 and [2, in their order are superimposed over the end flap l8 and are provided with coinciding passages I9, 26 and 2!, which form a pouring opening E, through one end of the carton. The two adjacent faces between the end flap l2 and the end flap l8 remain free, no adhesive, or other fastening means being applied, whereby a thin passage is provided in which the valve fiap hereinafter described functions. The outer free end 22 of the end flap [8 projects and forms an overlapping edge beyond the valve passage, said free end being secured to the adjacent surface of the end flap l2 by adhesive or other suitable means to assist in producing a substantial structure.

The flaps H, I3, l5 and H on the carton opposite the pouring end thereof are also folded inwardly and secured in the usual mamier by adhesive or other suitable means to complete the enclosure within the carton. The several sides and flaps referred to above are suitably de-limited by the edges of the blank and by scoring in the usual manner to provide various allowancesfor thickness and folding of the material.

To open and close the pouring opening E a slide valve flap F is provided which is integral with the hinged folding supporting flap 23 on'the outer side edge of the broad side A adjacent to the pouring end of the carton. The hinged connection for the supporting flap is along the folding score line 24 as an axis perpendicular to the plane of the pouring end of the carton body. The supporting flap 23 is therefore in a plane perpendicu lar to the plane of the pouring end of the carton body. The outer edge 25 of the valve flap is an arc about the folding score line as an axis. The valve flap is folded inwardly at right angle to the folding line 26 and slides freely through the valve passage provided betweenthe adjacent faces of two end flaps l2 and I8. Thus when the supporting flap 23 is folded inwardly against the face of the side D of the carton body, the valve flap by a sliding. movement intercepts and closes the pouring opening. When swung outwardly the pouring opening is fully or partly opened as desired. 'The sliding movement of the valve flap F is therefore in the plane of the pouring end of the carton. The free end of the valve flap has a stop 21 which limits the wide open position ranged in juxtaposition in the plane of the pour ing end of the carton body, each of the members of said flaps being formed with an aperture, all of said apertures coinciding to form a pouring opening in the end of the body, one of the sides of the body having an outer manually operable supporting flap foldable about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the pouring end of the body to close against a side of the body, and said supporting flap having a slide valve flap at substantially right angle thereto and slidable between the members of a pair of the overlapping end "flaps, said valve flap sliding across said opening of the valve flap by impinging against the inner 7 corner between the flaps ofthe carton body. The supporting flap 23 closes flat against thenarrow side D of the carton when the valve is fully closed and is secured in closed positionby the securing strip 28 on the-outerfree end of the supporting flap 23 which folds over thecorner of the carton and is temporarily secured to the outer face of the narrow side wall D, byadhesive or other suitable means. It will be obvious that by releasing the strip 28 the valve can be easily opened by swinging the supportingflap'outwardly. The valve flap is notched at 29 to clear the pouring opening in the Wide open position of the valve. The pouring opening E has been shown of circular shape. This shape can be'modified as desired. One of many contemplated modified forms is shown in-Fig. 6, in which the pouring opening 30 resembles a quadrant to more readily admit a spoon and the stop Men the valve flap is extended sumciently to modify the opening movement of the valve flap 32 on the supporting flap 33. It is also contemplated to vary the number of pouring openings which are closed by the valve flap within the spirit of the invention.

In the modification shown in Fig. 7, the extension 22 on end flap I8 is omitted and asecuring strip 34 is provided'on end flap I2 which is adapted tobe folded over and fastened by adhesive or other suitable means to the side B. A valve opening is formed between the inner adjacent faces of flap l4 and flap l2 by omitting adhesive fastening means over a suflicient area. In this construction the end flap'l8 is securedto the inner surface of end flap I2 by adhesive or other suitable fastening means instead ofbeing omitted as in the preferred-construction. Otherwisethe construction corresponds substantially with that of the preferred form above described. I I The construction provided by my invention-is particularly adapted for use with present filling machinery without-changes, which is a distinct advantage. 1 g y In accordance with the patent statutes, I'have describedthe principles of operation of my invention together with 1 the constructiorithereof which I nowconsider to represent the best:em bodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the invention can be carried'out by other means and applied to-uses other than-those in the scope of the following claims.

1. In apouring carton, a rectangular bodyhaving an end composed of a plurality'of flaps folded into overlapping relationship, said" end-flaps arabove set forth within-the spirit thereof and withto close the latter by the folding movement of said supporting flap.

2. In a pouring carton, a rectangular body hav ing an end composed of a plurality of flaps folded into overlapping relationship, said end flaps being arranged in juxtaposition in the plane of the pouring end of the carton body, each of the members of said end flaps being formed with an aperture, both of said apertures coinciding to form a pouring opening, one of the sides of saidbody having a manually operable outer supporting flap foldable about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the pouring end of the body, said supporting flap having a slide valve flap at substantially flap when the supporting flap swung outwardly.

3. 'In a pouring carton, a rectangular body having an end composed of a plurality of end flaps folded into overlapping relationship, said end flaps being arranged in the plane of the pouring end of the carton body, each of said flaps'being formed with an aperture, all of the apertures coinciding to form a pouring opening, one of the sides of said body having an outer supporting flap hinged about a score line perpendicularto the plane of the pouring end of the carton body, said supporting flap having a slide valve flap the outer edge of which is substantially an are about said folding score line as an axis,'whereby said valve fiapis adapted to slide between said overlapping end flaps and control said pouring opening. i

4. In a pouring carton, a rectangular bo'dy havingan end composed of a plurality of flaps folded into overlapping relationship, said end fiaps being arranged in the plane of the pouring end of the carton body, each of said end flaps being formed'with an aperture, all of the apertures coinciding to form a pouring opening inan end of the carton body, one of the sides of said body having an outer supporting flap manually foldable about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the pouring end of the body, said supportingflap having a sliding valve flap at substantially right- 

